Microparticles formed from a crosslinked gel hold great potential for applications involving the encapsulation and release of actives for application in agriculture, encapsulation of food ingredients, health care, cosmetics, tissue engineering, sensors, optical components, coatings (e.g., paints and pigments), additives, catalysis, and oil recovery. Despite their potential, it is very difficult to obtain (hydro)gel microparticles having a defined shape and at least one dimension that is in the order of 50 μm or less. In addition, it is difficult to control the distribution of the crosslinking agent used to form the gel that makes up the microparticle and to guarantee for a reliable, reproducible, and structural homogenous gelation.